American Notes Lebanon

Three carloads of heavily armed men arrived at the American embassy in the Beirut suburb of Aukur last week to make a delivery. Their cargo: American Steven John Donahue, 32. His release followed nearly eleven months as a captive of Lebanese drug traffickers. Donahue said later his family had paid more than $400,000 to obtain his freedom.

A Lebanese official said the drug smugglers took Donahue hostage "for poking his nose" into their affairs. Last October, Donahue's wife said he had agreed to work as a U.S. informant following his 1982 arrest on drug charges.

Donahue's captivity was not related to that of five other Americans abducted in 1984 and 1985 by Islamic Jihad, a fanatical Shi'ite Muslim group.